I had the rare pleasure of spending some time on the phone yesterday with a student in the UK whom, for weeks, had been trying to get a hold of somebody -- anybody in the gaming industry to talk to for his term paper but (of course) couldn't get a hold of a human being. I'm hardly an industry person, but I have been known to take compromising photos with those people, so he had to settle for the likes of me. We went over a wide range of topics but one in particular keeps creeping up in the back of my head. His question -- How would you define gamer culture?
I have two points of view on the subject, and an invitation for you to join the personal Fight Club I've formed against becoming too emo.
On one hand, we have these extreme observations that we periodically post on Destructoid, usually filed under the tag "things gamers do". You know, the ones where Shamus McDougal gets the entire world map of Metroid tattooed on his ass with Mother Brain is cleverly centered on brown core. Thing is -- cosplayers, game bloggers, collectors, and the girl that went through the trouble of customizing her Warcraft CSS to perfection on MySpace only represent maybe 10% of gamers. We call those people the hardcore and you can sometimes pick them out in a crowd pretty easily. It's easy to define us as a bit quirky, I suppose. We have more fun that most, that I'm sure of.
When people discuss gamer culture, I think this is what they mean. Captain Semantics will bite you in the face on that, though. For the longevity of our species, I can safely say that Emperor Virgin (pictured below) does not represent you and me -- the average joes that represent the larger slice of gamers.
But on a grander scale, the hardcore only influence casual gamers, at best. I would be hasty to say that we represent them. The totality of the gamer install base is so much more broad. You have to factor in those mundane ESA numbers -- the largely 20-30ish year old male populace that puts in the 2-4 hours of game time a week, and so on. The man that circles around his console and pokes around online for a bit and then goes back to work and surfs the web for porn (in that order) should be counted in the dychotomy. He counts, too!
Unfortunately, when you take him into account you've got a funny looking salad. Gamer culture, in that sense, is about as distinct as "Book reader culture" and "Refrigerator repairman culture". This is probably the more accurate answer, however boring. But then again, would you even call these people "gamers" really? Where is the dividing line between eccentric freak and unconceivable hobbyist? Nowhere, I guess. If I look around the guys I hang with and the people that work on the site, I'd say that the only culture we share is that of slowly deteriorating eyeballs.
There's also the problem of calling it "culture", which can be extremely emo if volunteered in a monologue about one's sensitivities. Namely: If I ever tell you that I'm an expert on gamer culture, you should swiftly punch me in the face. All I think I know is that gamers are mostly guys with bad eyesight, and I'm not even sure of that. Also, cocks.
Anyway, poor Alex had to hear that rant take form in a mumbled rambling in between my SARS Lite (tm) coughing and wheezing. To put the issue to rest and in the best interest of maintaining my uber-healthy 3.5 hour sleeping cycles, I toss the question back at the community. Think about the archetype in and out. What does gamer culture mean to you, personally?
VIDEO.DESTRUCTOID | JAPANATOR | TOMOPOP
1:10 AM on 01.19.2007 
Also......................................................cocks.